Machine for sewing looped fabrics.



W. RIEGK & E. E. RANDALL. MACHINE FOR SEWING LOOPED FABRICS.

APPLICATION rum) JUNE 23, 1910.

1,107,704. Patented Aug. 18, 1914.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM BIECK AND EDISON E. RANDALL, OF KANKAKEE, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNGRS TO PARAMOUNT KNITTING COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

MACHINE FOR SEWING LOOPED FABRICS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 23, m. Serial No. 568,445.

T all whom it may concern Be it known that we, WILLIAM RIECK and Emson E. RANDALL, citizens of the United States, and residents of Kankakee, county of Kankakee, State of Illinois, have invented improvement in, Machines for Sewing Looped Fabrics, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a specification, like characters on the drawing representing like parts.

This invention relates to a machine for uniting or sewing together the edges of knitted goods or looped fabrics and as herein illustrated is particularly designed for sewing together edges of such articles as stockings, as when the stocking is knit on a. circular knitting machine beginning at the toe, and the edges at the toe have to be united to complete the stocking. Machines of this general type and of various forms are well known. In their general features they may be illustrated by reference to the patent to. Henshall No. 589,723, dated September 7, 1.897. Such a machine comprises usually an intermittently rotating work-sup porting ring carrying a circular series of radially projecting impaling pins, and stitch-forming mechanism, the needle of which operates over each impaling pin as it comes beneath the needle. The edges of the knit or looped fabric to be united have their meshes superposed and placed on the impaling pins so that the needle passes therethrough and the stitching unites the fabric.

The work-supporting ring is necessarily of considerable size and when the edges of small articles, such as stockings, are to be united a number of stockings are hung upon the impaling pins by the operative. As fast as one stocln'ng has been stitched and h passed the stit rh,forming mechanism it is removed from the ring, either automatially or by the operati e, and a fresh stockis .m'ZGd upon the ring, the operative in the meantime muting by hand the threads extending from the removed stocking to the preceding one. The operative in placing the stockings upon the im aling pins is guided only by her eye an very rapidly so that in practice the distance between the stockings as they are placed upon the ring varies greatly. Moreover, when the connecting threads are cut has to Work- The United States Government recognizes the importance of the length of the uniting ,thread by requiring in stockings furnished for the Army that these ends shall not vary materially from one-fourth of an inch.

The present invention provides means for obviating all these difficulties, for securing uniformity and exactness in length of the ends of thenniting threads, prevents unnecessary waste of thread, saves the time of the operative and so facilitates her work that the stockings may be more rapidly placed upon the ring. These results are secured by arranging the impaling pins in series, each series containing the requisite number of pins to support one article, such as a stocking, spacing the series a definite distance apart, as, for example, one-half inch, and providing an automatically-actuated cutter to sever the threads midway of the separating spaces.

The invention will appear more fully from the accompanying deseriptionand drawings and will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The drawings represent an ordinary form of machine for sewinglooped fabrics such as illustrated in the beforementioned patent with the present invention embodied therein in a preferred form.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan view of the machine; Fig. 2 is a detail elevation looking toward the cutting mechanism radially of the machine; Fig. 3 is a verticalcross section taken radially of the machine close to the cutting mechanism; Fig. 4 is 'a top plan view of the portion of the machine shown in Fig. 3.

It is unnecessary to describe in detail a machine for sewing looped fabrics of the type herein illustrated, so far as its egeneral features are concerned, because it is well known. Suffice it to note that 1 represents a suitable base or support on whichv is mounted the main shaft 2 and from which extends the overhanging arm 3 carrying depending therefrom and rigid with respect thereto the plate or support 4 in which the Patented Aug. 18, 1914. i

ring 5 rotates. The plate 4 represents an 7 lever.

annular groove in which the ring 5 is seated and the ring is held in place by the annulus 6 screwed to the plate.

I The inipaling pins 7 are of the usual form and are mounted on the ring 5 to project radially thereof. In the present invention these impaling pins are arranged in series or 'roups A, B, C, D, etc., each of which is of sufficient length or extent to hold the meshes of the edges ofthe given article, such as a stocking, which are to be united and which, therefore, constitutes what may be termed a fabric-supporting member. These series or groups are also spaced at fixed distances apart, as, for example, one-half inch, so that if a cutter operate midway therebetween the severed ends of the uniting threads will be always of the same desired length as, for example, one-fourth inch. The main shaft 2 operates the usual mechanisms in this type of machine. Through an eccentric 8 it operates trimmers 9 which trim off the edges of the knitted goods evenly as they approach the stitching point. An oscillating needlecarrying arm 10 and its needle 11 are shown operated from the shaft 2 and as each impaling pin 7 comes beneath the needle, the needle is actuated to pass over the pin through the meshes suspended thereon to stitch the edges together. After the work has passed the stitching point it passes beneath a rotary brush 12 driven from the shaft 2 and any threads, yarn, or fibers are brushed off. The impaling pin ring is given its intermittent or step-by-step movement usually by an annular rack 13 and suit able connections operated from an eccentric 14 on the shaft 2.

The cutting mechanism for severing the threads left by the stitch-forming mechanism extending between adjacent stockings is preferably located a short distance past the stitch-forming mechanism, as indicated in Fig. 1 and is shown in detail in the remaining figures of the drawing. It may be of any suitable construction but the form herein shown has been found very eflicient and serves-to illustrate a preferred embodiment of this feature of the invention. Cooperating brackets are secured to the plate 4, one 15 being attached to the upper surfaceof the plate, as by screws 16, to project outwardly and radially, and the other 17 being secured to the under surface of the plate as by the screws 18 and projecting outwardly beneath the first. The bracket 15 carries a cutter lever 20 pivoted at 21 thereon and guided in a slot in an upwardly projecting portion thereof. A vertical bar 22 is attached to the cutter lever and a spring 23 extending from the upper end thereof to the bracket 15 normally acts to depress the cutter lever and, consequently, the cutter knife'24 mounted near the end of the cutter This bar 22 extends downwardly and is beveled at its lower end. The bracket 17 is provided with an edge to cooperate with the knife 24. A large guide 25 is secured to the bracket 15 by a bolt 19 to sure the passage of the work beneath the cutter. Depressions 26 are formed in the ring 5 beneath the bar 22 beveled at one side, and these depressions are so located that when each space between the series or groups of impaling pins comes beneath the cutter knife the bar 22 will be forced into the depression by the spring 23, thus actuating the cutter and severing the thread. The continued rotation of the ring causes the co-acting bevel surfaces on the bar and the depression to raise the bar until it slides along on the upper surface of the ring. The bar 22 is formed with a shoulder 27 so that the knife can be locked out of cutting position whenever desired by raising the bar until the shoulder catches on the upper sur-;

face of the bracket part 15'where it will then be held by the spring 23 until released.

The operation of the machine is apparent from the foregoing description. The operative'stands about opposite the stitchforming mechanism and places the stocking or other article on a group of i'mpaling pins, one on each group. As the stockings pass in the rotation of the ring beneath the various mechanisms referred to the edges are trimmed, united by the stitch-forming mechanism, brushed, and finally the cutting mechanism severs the threads midway be tween successive groups of pins. thus leaving ends of exactly the required length and then the stockings are removed from the pins. Thus waste of thread is prevented, danger from holes due to cutting too close to the knitted web eliminated, the discom fort from too long ends obviated, and the speed with which the work may be handled materially increased.

It will be observed that the cutting mechanism is automatically actuated to sever the threads left by the stitching mechanism substantially midway between successive stockings, and while in the form shown these stockings are supported by the impaling pins arranged in series or groups, each of which is of sufiicient length or extent to hold the meshes of the edges of the stocking, yet the invention, so far as it relates to the cutting mechanism, is not to be limited to any particular means or manner of supporting the stockings, or other articles.

Having fully described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A machine for sewing looped fabrics the surface of the rin cutter lever carrying a cutting knife and pivoted to aid sup ort to allow the cutter to swing downwardly into said s aces, a spring to depress the cutter lever, a ar connected to said cutter lever to hold the same elevated when the end of the bar rests upon depressions in the ring codrdinated with t e spaces, and means for intermittently rotatin the ring whereby when the middle of eac s ace comes opposite the cutter knife the ar will drop into the corresponding depression allowing the actuation of the cutter to sever the thread extending across the s cc.

2. A machine for sewing d ped fabrics comprising a ring support, a ring rotar ily mounted thereon, groups of impaling pins projecting radiall of said ring and ar-' ranged with wi e spaces between said groups, cutting mechanism comprising a fixed member mounted, on the rin support and projecting beneath the impa ing pins and-a movable member mounted on the sup= port and projecting over the impaling pins,

means for intermittently rotating the ring to bring the spaces successively opposite the cutting mechanism, and means for thereup'on actuating the movable member of the cutting mechanism to sheer the thread extending across the space.

3. A machine for sewing looped fabrics comprising a ring support, cutting mechanism mounted thereon, a ring rotarily mounted thereon, impaling pins arranged on said ring, means automatically actuated independent of the sewing mechanism upon the presentation of a space between successive stockings opposite said cutting mechanism to actuate the cutting mechanism to sever the thread extending across the space.

In testimony whereof, we have signed our names to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM RIECK. EDISON E. RANDALL.

\Vitnesses:

FRED L. SCHNEIDER, C. P. TOWNSEND. 

